NIH policy for F series awards

Non-Federal Public and Private Non-Profit Institutions (Domestic and Foreign). The allowance is intended to defray expenses for the individual fellow such as research supplies, equipment, travel to scientific meetings, and health insurance and to otherwise offset, insofar as possible, appropriate administrative costs of training.

In the process of our work with NIH on a carry forward request, we were reminded of the below NIH policy (in effect since November 2017). We thought highlighting the below may be helpful to those of you who manage individual fellowships (F series awards). The highlights come from the NIH Grants Management Specialist.

Individual fellowship awards are formula based, generally restricted for the specific budget category of the award, and cannot be rebudgeted without prior written approval from the NIH awarding IC.

Stipends must be expended using the stipend level provided in the award; no funds can be rebudgeted into the stipend category to accommodate a stipend level different from the established NIH level. When a fellowship terminates early, any unexpended stipends must be returned and cannot be rebudgeted into any other budget category.

Institutional allowance is a fixed amount of money with a number of allowable costs. In the rare case where institutional allowance may be unexpended, it can only be rebudgeted into the tuition and fees category when tuition and fees have been awarded.

When tuition and fees is awarded, it is generally restricted and cannot be rebudgeted without prior written approval from the NIH awarding IC.